Book Review: Unsettling 'May We Be Forgiven' not for everyone

This book cover image released by Viking shows "May We Be Forgiven," a novel by A.M. Homes. (AP Photo/Viking)

"May We Be Forgiven," by A.M. Homes

A book that's hard to like but even harder to forget, A.M. Homes' "May We Be Forgiven" is a wild, almost unhinged satire about the toxic relationship between a pair of brothers and the havoc it wreaks in their lives and those of the people they love. It's not for everyone, but adventurous readers who can tolerate its frequent detours into kinky sex and disturbing violence will find buried within an almost uplifting belief in the possibility of redemption.

A historian with a specialty in the life and career of Richard Nixon, Harold has always suffered envy for George, a powerful TV network executive who lives with his wife and adolescent children in a ritzy Long Island subdivision.

He's also spent most of his life suffering at the hands of George, an obnoxious bully with a dangerous temper. As "May We Be Forgiven" gets under way, Harold and his wife, Claire, are spending a tense Thanksgiving Day with George and his family. The unhappy family gathering foreshadows a shocking act of brutality by George a few days later that radically alters Harold's life.

Bottomline: Many readers will likely be shocked or put off by parts of "May We Be Forgiven." But Homes wants more than to titillate: She's turning a mirror on the tawdriness that comprises so much of our current events and popular culture, and the reflection is not a pleasant one. It's hard to call Harold the "hero" of this story, but by the book's closing pages — for those who make it that far — he almost starts to feel like one.